Recovery options offered over holidays

POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — For some people, the holiday season adds more than stress to their lives and actually poses a threat to their sobriety.

The Meeting House, which has opened in the former St. Paul’s UM Church on Jackson Avenue, will be hosting a “safe space” on New Year’s Eve for those who need it. The event, from 8 p.m. Dec. 31 to 12:30 a.m. Jan. 1, will be a potluck with some music and games available. Meetings are not canceled on holidays, a day when they are often needed the most.

Hosting the New Year’s Eve event was decided at The Meeting House’s recent board of directors meeting, which includes people from the recovery community, court system, Mason County Ministerial Association, former educators and more. The Meeting House is a centralized location for meetings like NA and Alcoholics Anonymous. The Meeting House also rents out the space for private functions and keeps the church’s sanctuary intact for weddings and other events.

Also at this week’s meeting, the board of directors decided to incorporate GED study sessions. A substitute teacher from Jackson County, W.Va., offered to donate his services to work with those wishing to obtain their GED. The board decided to get more information about what would be needed to offer this free service, possibly before or after the NA and AA meetings.

The Meeting House will also host training from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22-26, for those wishing to become a recovery coach, which is a sort of “sponsor” for those in the recovery community. The training would allow people to do assessments of those in recovery and assist them with obtaining future goals and other things. More on this in an upcoming edition.

The board of directors also approved offering an additional AA meeting at noon on Fridays starting in January. The board is also looking at offering the space to a grief support group and Al-Anon meeting.

The next board of directors meeting for The Meeting House is at 6 p.m. Jan. 4 in the basement of St. Paul’s Church. The meetings are open to the public.

Beth Sergent

bsergent@civitasmedia.com

Reach Beth Sergent at bsergent@civitasmedia.com or on Twitter @BSergentWrites.

Reach Beth Sergent at bsergent@civitasmedia.com or on Twitter @BSergentWrites.